Blackpool: Fan apologises over defamatory website comments

Businessman Owen Oyston bought Blackpool in 1987 when the club was in Division Three

A Blackpool fan has apologised to the club's owner Owen Oyston and chairman Karl Oyston after posting defamatory comments on an internet forum.

Stephen Sharpe withdrew the posts after accepting they were "false, defamatory and, in some cases, threatening".

He has also made a £5,000 donation to the Blackpool FC Community Trust.

The Oystons took legal action after they were unhappy with a number of serious comments about them and accusations about the club.

A statement on the Blackpool website said: "Mr Sharpe now accepts that his posts were defamatory and involved an 'imputation of grossly disreputable conduct such as to harm the reputations of the Oystons and Blackpool Football Club in general and that of Owen Oyston in particular'."

"Mr Sharpe has unreservedly withdrawn his posts after accepting that they were 'false, defamatory and, in some cases, threatening' [and] 'sincerely and unreservedly' apologises."